Anna Patterson 1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph. The play opens on an adult Li’l Bit recounting a memory of 17 year old her and her Uncle Peck in a car. The play takes place over several years in the 1960’s and 1970’s in rural Maryland. The play involves Li’l Bit and her Uncle Peck, who are played by their actors, and the other characters in the play, Li’l Bit’s grandfather, grandmother, mother, and aunt, and several of her classmates.
2. What is the intrusion? Because the play is not in chronological order, the intrusion is hard to name. I think though, that it is the first time Li’l Bit is abused by Uncle Peck, in the car when she is 11. This is the start of their relationship and the very basis of the play.
3. What is the unique factor? The unique factor is that this is the day that Li’l Bit decided to narrate and analyze her past and her relationship with Uncle Peck.
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play? Will Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck’s relationship continue? What will their relationship become?
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it. The first kind of exposition is what the audience knows about Li’l Bit at the beginning of the play, and the second is what Li’l Bit reveals to the audience throughout the play in her flashbacks.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be. I think the most theatrical moments are when Li’l Bit gets drunk and when she finally ends her relationship with Uncle Peck. The drunken scene is important because it seems that Li’l Bit has lost control of the relationship, but it shows an important characteristic of Uncle Peck and Li’l Bit’s relationship: that Li’l Bit is drawing the line and she is the one “in control” of what her and Uncle Peck do or do not do. Although the entire relationship is still extremely inappropriate.
The scene where Li’l Bit finally breaks off her relationship with Uncle Peck is what the audience was finally waiting for; they were waiting for Li’l Bit to realize how wrong their relationship was and how negatively it was affecting her and end it.
7. List some of the themes of the play. Though not presented chronologically, the play is about growing up. Li’l Bit grows up throughout the play, not just in her sexual experience, but most importantly, emotionally and mentally. When she goes to college and is removed from the situation with Uncle Peck, she is able to see what their relationship really was - wrong. She can then realize the negative effect it had on her - how it drove her to drink and fail her classes at school. In the later flashbacks, Li’l Bit is able to identify what parts of her past caused her to become blind and defensive of Uncle Peck. She grows up, matures, and is able to end the inappropriate relationship, even to the demise of Uncle Peck.
Incest is a theme in the play. Though Uncle Peck is not related to Li’l Bit by blood, he is an older relative by marriage. Their relationship, in my opinion, is incestious because Uncle Peck is a father figure for Li’l Bit. Li’l Bit’s father is not in her life, and it is Uncle Peck who protects and comforts Li’l Bit from the harsh words from her family, protecting her the way a father would.
What could be considered an appropriate and inappropriate sexual relationship are also themes in the play. Li’l Bit was conscious of what her relationship with her Uncle Peck was in a way. Though warned about sex by her mother and grandmother, Li’l Bit believes that she is in control of her and Uncle Peck’s relationship, even from a young age. She bargains things in their relationship, saying she wants to be the one to draw the line of what they can and cannot do. Uncle Peck sends Li’l Bit letters with a countdown to when she is to turn 18, believing that when she turns 18 their relationship will be “okay” and if he divorces his wife, he and Li’l Bit could get married. In my opinion, this still makes their relationship inappropriate and wrong.
8. Choose the character of Li'l Bit in the show and articulate what she wants and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of her getting what she wants? I think Li’l Bit wants to be free of her insecurities. Her family is critical in a way of the way she looks and are pessimistic about her future because she is a women. Her relationship with Uncle Peck gives her a kind of freedom and reassurance she does not get from her family. Her control over an older man helps her to feel more confident in herself. The obstacles that stand in her way are herself, her family, and society. The way society views her based on her figure make her feel self conscious. At the end of the play when Li’l Bit is finally finished with her relationship with Uncle Peck is when she herself became free of her insecurities and no longer needs the affirmation from her Uncle Peck.
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play. The image of the car and the idea of getting a driver’s license are major themes in the play. Getting a driver’s license and sex are events that mark an individual’s ascent into adulthood. The title of the play, How I Learned to Drive, gives the impression that Li’l Bit’s Uncle had something to do with both of those events in Li’l Bit’s life. One was positive: Uncle Peck taught Li’l Bit how to drive very well. The other is not, in my opinion, positive as Uncle Peck’s abuse of Li’l Bit from a very young age is grotesque.
Music and images from the 1960’s during the sexual revolution are displayed in the play to enhance the pedophilic theme of the play and the idea of sexualizing young girls.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play. The most important family relationship that is examined the play is the inappropriate relationship between Li’l Bit and her Uncle Peck. Though not related by blood, they are still relatives by marriage. This highlights a sad common theme in many child abuse cases: the child is often abused by an older relative. Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck’s relationship is analyzed as a romantic relationship, and as familial relationship. When Li’l Bit is tormented by her father at the dinner table, Uncle Peck acts as her guardian and protector, comforting her against her father’s harsh words.
Other relationships that are analyzed are the relationships between Li’l Bit and her grandparents and mother. Her grandfather is rude and vulgar toward Li’l Bit saying she does not need to go to college for a degree because she only needs to know how to do one thing. Her mother represents the view of sexual abuse for the time. Li’l Bit’s mother was suspicious of Peck’s relationship with Li’l Bit, but she tells Li’l Bit that she holds only her responsible for what happens during driving lessons.
1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph.
The play opens on an adult Li’l Bit recounting a memory of 17 year old her and her Uncle Peck in a car. The play takes place over several years in the 1960’s and 1970’s in rural Maryland. The play involves Li’l Bit and her Uncle Peck, who are played by their actors, and the other characters in the play, Li’l Bit’s grandfather, grandmother, mother, and aunt, and several of her classmates.
2. What is the intrusion?
Because the play is not in chronological order, the intrusion is hard to name. I think though, that it is the first time Li’l Bit is abused by Uncle Peck, in the car when she is 11. This is the start of their relationship and the very basis of the play.
3. What is the unique factor?
The unique factor is that this is the day that Li’l Bit decided to narrate and analyze her past and her relationship with Uncle Peck.
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play?
Will Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck’s relationship continue? What will their relationship become?
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it.
The first kind of exposition is what the audience knows about Li’l Bit at the beginning of the play, and the second is what Li’l Bit reveals to the audience throughout the play in her flashbacks.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be.
I think the most theatrical moments are when Li’l Bit gets drunk and when she finally ends her relationship with Uncle Peck. The drunken scene is important because it seems that Li’l Bit has lost control of the relationship, but it shows an important characteristic of Uncle Peck and Li’l Bit’s relationship: that Li’l Bit is drawing the line and she is the one “in control” of what her and Uncle Peck do or do not do. Although the entire relationship is still extremely inappropriate.
The scene where Li’l Bit finally breaks off her relationship with Uncle Peck is what the audience was finally waiting for; they were waiting for Li’l Bit to realize how wrong their relationship was and how negatively it was affecting her and end it.
7. List some of the themes of the play.
Though not presented chronologically, the play is about growing up. Li’l Bit grows up throughout the play, not just in her sexual experience, but most importantly, emotionally and mentally. When she goes to college and is removed from the situation with Uncle Peck, she is able to see what their relationship really was - wrong. She can then realize the negative effect it had on her - how it drove her to drink and fail her classes at school. In the later flashbacks, Li’l Bit is able to identify what parts of her past caused her to become blind and defensive of Uncle Peck. She grows up, matures, and is able to end the inappropriate relationship, even to the demise of Uncle Peck.
Incest is a theme in the play. Though Uncle Peck is not related to Li’l Bit by blood, he is an older relative by marriage. Their relationship, in my opinion, is incestious because Uncle Peck is a father figure for Li’l Bit. Li’l Bit’s father is not in her life, and it is Uncle Peck who protects and comforts Li’l Bit from the harsh words from her family, protecting her the way a father would.
What could be considered an appropriate and inappropriate sexual relationship are also themes in the play. Li’l Bit was conscious of what her relationship with her Uncle Peck was in a way. Though warned about sex by her mother and grandmother, Li’l Bit believes that she is in control of her and Uncle Peck’s relationship, even from a young age. She bargains things in their relationship, saying she wants to be the one to draw the line of what they can and cannot do. Uncle Peck sends Li’l Bit letters with a countdown to when she is to turn 18, believing that when she turns 18 their relationship will be “okay” and if he divorces his wife, he and Li’l Bit could get married. In my opinion, this still makes their relationship inappropriate and wrong.
8. Choose the character of Li'l Bit in the show and articulate what she wants and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of her getting what she wants?
I think Li’l Bit wants to be free of her insecurities. Her family is critical in a way of the way she looks and are pessimistic about her future because she is a women. Her relationship with Uncle Peck gives her a kind of freedom and reassurance she does not get from her family. Her control over an older man helps her to feel more confident in herself. The obstacles that stand in her way are herself, her family, and society. The way society views her based on her figure make her feel self conscious. At the end of the play when Li’l Bit is finally finished with her relationship with Uncle Peck is when she herself became free of her insecurities and no longer needs the affirmation from her Uncle Peck.
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play.
The image of the car and the idea of getting a driver’s license are major themes in the play. Getting a driver’s license and sex are events that mark an individual’s ascent into adulthood. The title of the play, How I Learned to Drive, gives the impression that Li’l Bit’s Uncle had something to do with both of those events in Li’l Bit’s life. One was positive: Uncle Peck taught Li’l Bit how to drive very well. The other is not, in my opinion, positive as Uncle Peck’s abuse of Li’l Bit from a very young age is grotesque.
Music and images from the 1960’s during the sexual revolution are displayed in the play to enhance the pedophilic theme of the play and the idea of sexualizing young girls.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play.
The most important family relationship that is examined the play is the inappropriate relationship between Li’l Bit and her Uncle Peck. Though not related by blood, they are still relatives by marriage. This highlights a sad common theme in many child abuse cases: the child is often abused by an older relative. Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck’s relationship is analyzed as a romantic relationship, and as familial relationship. When Li’l Bit is tormented by her father at the dinner table, Uncle Peck acts as her guardian and protector, comforting her against her father’s harsh words.
Other relationships that are analyzed are the relationships between Li’l Bit and her grandparents and mother. Her grandfather is rude and vulgar toward Li’l Bit saying she does not need to go to college for a degree because she only needs to know how to do one thing. Her mother represents the view of sexual abuse for the time. Li’l Bit’s mother was suspicious of Peck’s relationship with Li’l Bit, but she tells Li’l Bit that she holds only her responsible for what happens during driving lessons.